A DRUG user armed with a machete which she kept in her bag kicked a Worcester police officer in the shin, leaving her with a lump the size of a grape.
Elizabeth Dawson, who has connections to Worcester and Evesham, urinated in the back of a police van cage, vomited and then kicked a police officer who had been trying to look after her at Worcester Police Station after she began to display concerning behaviour in a holding cell.
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The 35-year-old admitted possession of the machete and possession of cannabis (which she kept in her bra) in Rowlands Court, Evesham on August 25 last year when she appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court on Thursday.
GUILTY: Elizabeth Dawson (foreground) admitted attacking a police officer and having a machete and cannabis
She further admitted assault by beating of an emergency worker - PC Reynolds - at Worcester Police Station on January 22 this year.
Eleanor Peart, prosecuting, said at around 9.15pm on January 22 PC Reynolds was asked to assist another officer in searching Dawson.
"She was lying on the floor with her legs in the air in one of the cages (of a police van)" said Miss Peart.
Dawson was described as urinating in the back of the van and being 'covered in mucus and blood'. The prosecutor said Dawson 'began smashing her head off the van' before she was taken to a holding cell where she vomited.
"She crawled under the bench in the holding cell" said Miss Peart.
When the officer came to check on Dawson's welfare, the defendant swore at her and 'kicked her once with full force to the left shin'.
DELAY: The case was adjourned to explore the defedant's mental health in greater depth and to allow feedback from the probation service.
The blow caused reddening to the shin, bruising and a lump 'the size of half a grape'. Mis Peart added: "There was a footprint on her trouser leg. The officer herself was disgusted with the defendant's behaviour. She felt she was trying to look after the defendant and protect her from being harmed.
"In interview the defendant said she could not remember the incident. She put it down to a cocktail of drink and drugs."
On August 25 last year officers were called to Rowlands Court in Evesham to reports of screaming and shouting.
"Witnesses said they saw the defendant brandishing a machete around 12 inches in length before the defendant placed it in her bag" said Miss Peart.
The blade was located by officers behind a bush. Dawson's DNA was found on the sheathe used for the machete. When she was arrested cannabis was also recovered from her bra.
In interview she said she could not remember carrying a machete but 'maybe witnesses did see her with one'.
"She later said it was not a machete but an axe she used as a doorstop" said the prosecutor.
Her last violent offence on record was battery in 2017.
Chris Hilton, defending, said Dawson had entered timely guilty pleas and, in due course, asked that she be given maximum credit for that. He accepted that possession of the machete had a starting point of imprisonment within the sentencing guidelines.
"She was struggling and continues to struggle with issues regarding mental health" said Mr Hilton. He invited magistrates to adjourn sentence as he sought a psychiatric report on her behalf to 'assist in addressing the medical issues she has'. The adjournment will also allow the probation service to prepare a pre-sentence report (after viewing the psychiatric report).
He added: "I'm told she regularly self-harms using a bladed article and the machete would have been used on herself. When I saw her at the police station at the time she had a gaping where her stitches had come out. It was horrendous to look at. It was a gaping wound down her upper arm."
Describing her behaviour in the holding cell, Mr Hilton said: "She was having what she would say was an episode."
Mr Hilton further explained that his client had PTSD 'relating to events that happened to her when she was much younger'.
Magistrates adjourned the case until May 5 this year. Dawson, now of Hancock Road, Birmingham, was granted unconditional bail to attend that hearing.
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